Tris and Izzie

Title:  Tris and Izzie

Author: Mette Ivie Harrison

Pages: 272

Pub: Egmont; 2011

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Etc: ARC via Netgalley

The Short of It

Magic in the world causes strife.

The Long of It

Ever read that epic “Tristan and Isolde” by Wolfram von Eschenback?  I have to admit, I didn’t, but it’s their story that caught my attention.  I watched the movie Tristan and Isolde ages ago (although I can’t remember what it was about. At. All.)   I cannot, therefore, honestly tell you how similar this story is to the original.(1)

So it begins with Izzie and Mark and they are THE cutest couple.  Or at least in Izzie’s opinion.  Life couldn’t be grander, except her bestie, Branna, is crushin’ on someone but won’t say who and Izzie JUST HAS TO get Branna hooked up with someone so they can do cutesy things like double date.  About five minutes later, Mark introduces the girls to his new friend, Tristan.  Of course Izzie gets the BRILLIANT idea to create a love potion and get Tristan and Branna to hook up.

Oh wait, didn’t I tell you?  There’s magic in this world.  Like, Izzie’s mom is a witch, which is why she drives an ambulance to help those who need more than normal science inspired medical needs. 

But then there’s trouble in paradise because Izzie drinks the love potion instead of Branna and then finds out a bunch of secrets that she wasn’t really prepared for and BAM the world is in danger by evil magic.

The Thoughts about It

Uh, first off…isn’t that cover just freakin’ gorgeous!  I wish I could blow it up, frame it, and hang it somewhere where lots of people can see it.  Kudos to whoever the art director was.

Unfortunately, my feelings for the book were pretty lukewarm.  Part of me had to be my own personal cheerleader pushing the reading on.  I’m pretty sure that if the book wasn’t YA, I’d have put it aside.  But I kept holding out. 

Let me just tell you there was this one part of the novel that was pretty huge and it bothered the hell out of me.  I hated the unbelievable aspect of it, which is saying a lot when I can buy into magic.   And all I’m sayin’ on the subject, without giving anything away is people don’t just give up something or someone that they love without having icky feelings. Icky feelings like, jealously, possessiveness, frustration.  Not. Believable. 

The ending was pretty fierce though.  I liked all of the fighting and manipulation of magic. 

Finally, it seems as though it is set up for a series (aren’t they all?) but I’ll be passing.

_________

(1) But check out the author’s website.  She does a phenomenal job sharing the process of re-writing a classic.  Also, I encourage you to explore the web-o-page.  Lots of cutesy stuff, like LOVE POTIONS!